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Rossi: 180 victories on one bike!

Monday, 19th May 2008

Unlike some sporting stars, Valentino Rossi is very conscious of his place in history - and paid a special tribute to Angel Nieto after equalling the superstitious '12+1' world champion's 90 grand prix victories on Sunday.

Rossi, who had carried a flag 'apologising' to the late Mike Hailwood for matching the Englishman's total of 76 wins in 2005, was able to pull off a much bigger surprise after joining Nieto as the second most successful rider in grand prix history.

Following a convincing victory in Sunday's French Grand Prix at Le Mans, Rossi stopped at the side of the track where Nieto - who won six 50cc titles and seven 125cc titles during the '60s, '70s and '80s and now works for Spanish television - was waiting.

Angel, wearing special leathers to mark the occasion, congratulated Rossi - then took control of the Italian's YZR-M1, which he rode for the remainder of the lap with Rossi sat behind him holding a large '90+90' flag.

"To arrive at 90 wins like this and equal Angel's record is a dream for me," said Rossi, after his second victory of the 2008 season. "I had quite a lot of pressure because Angel was waiting with the special leathers to join me on the bike, so I really needed to win! It was great to ride with him - I think maybe with some practice he can be as fast as us! 180 victories together on one bike is quite impressive I think!"

Rossi had dropped from fourth to sixth on the opening lap, but some close racing and exciting overtaking moves saw him take the lead from world champion Casey Stoner on lap 8 of 26.

From then on Rossi was too strong for the chasing pack, stretching his lead lap after lap until a light rain threw his victory into doubt. The sun soon came back out however - negating the need to change bikes - and the Italian crossed the line 4.997 seconds in front of injured Fiat Yamaha team-mate Jorge Lorenzo to take his first back-to-back victory since 2006 and become the first double race winner of 2008.